Building the Perfect Gar Pond

by Ray Wolff

Dedicated GASS angler, amateur ichthyologist, and North American Native Fish Conservancy member, Ray Wolff has created in his Wisconsin yard a haven for gar. This 32’ x 14’ pond has allowed Mr. Wolff an up close look at our oft-misunderstood quarry. This article describes the construction of his Garvana and his initial observations of gar behavior. --- The Editors

Why a pond for gar? I always liked gar, but two of the gar species, longnose and alligator, just won’t stay small enough for indoor aquariums. I’ve seen many koi and goldfish ponds, but thought these fish were too “bread and butter”. Gar are much more interesting. I could learn a little more about their habits by close observation.
Construction: I design the pond to look like a river with a main channel and shallow flats. Two of us took 7 hours with shovels to dig the hole to accommodate the liner. The liner is a rubber sheet of the kind used for flat roofs. This is nearly indestructible, yet easy to work with. Plus, it is less expensive than comparable commercial liners. It just has a little more prep work, as the talc that keeps it from sticking together when folded up needs to be scrubbed off. While filling the pond, the liner is resituated as needed. Bottom substrates of sand and gravel and the rock work can be added as the pond is filling. I use an 1800 gallon/hour pump to run the river. I attached 1.25 inch corrugated black hose to it and hid this with rock. The pump is near the deep end but only half way down the side, as the deep, still hole provides a cool area in the hot summer and a warm area in the winter. While fishing, I picked up interesting plants and used these in the pond. I also found interesting driftwood and a dead tree to simulate a Mississippi River biotope. I created sandstone “bluffs” like those found on the upper river. I made various flats for minnows to spawn on. After a few days, I introduced various sunfish and minnow species. I added the gars (one ‘gator, one spotted, one shortnose, and one Florida) and two bowfin two weeks later.

Observations: I have had this set up only since June so I do not know how they will act in spring. During the hottest parts of the year, the gar were very active, snapping up minnows that strayed from the schools in the pond. They also took the dead ones as they floated by on the current. In the early evening, the gar would come out of the deep, dark hole and cruise up the channel to the flats. There they would slowly herd the minnows towards shore then explode in a feeding frenzy. Once, I noticed the alligator gar “baiting” sunfish. I was feeding the warmouth chopped night crawlers and many were picking at the bits. Suddenly the small sunfish disappeared into the weeds. Out of the channel, ‘gator came slinking along. I thought he was hungry for worms, but I was wrong. He laid by the writhing worm chunks and waited, motionless like a log. Soon the sunfish resumed feeding. WHAM! Old ’Gator grabbed one and slid back into the depths. He reappeared several times to repeat this behavior. When the water cooled in fall, the gars kept deep except to bask on sunny days or to quickly gulp air. I believe in winter they will lie in the 6’-deep hole waiting for the water to warm again.